WATERWAY AND CATCHMENT REPORT 2019 This project is supported by the New South Wales Government through its Coast and Estuary Program, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment and Local Land Services. MidCoast Council 2019 Waterway and Catchment Report Prepared by: MidCoast Council Natural Systems Enquires should be directed to: MidCoast Council PO Box 450 Forster NSW 2428 telephone: (02) 6591 7222 email: [email protected] © 2019 MidCoast Council Contents Introduction .........................................................................................4 Methods ...............................................................................................6 Manning River Estuary ....................................................................15 Upper Manning River Estuary ...................................................................................... 16 Dawson River .................................................................................................................. 16 Mid Manning River Estuary .......................................................................................... 17 Lower Manning River Estuary ..................................................................................... 17 Farquhar Inlet .................................................................................................................. 18 Khappinghat Estuary ......................................................................18 Wallis Lake ........................................................................................19 Mid Wallamba Estuary .................................................................................................. 20 Wallamba Cove ............................................................................................................... 20 Coolongolook Estuary ................................................................................................... 21 Pipers Creek ..................................................................................................................... 21 Wallis Lake ....................................................................................................................... 22 Charlotte Bay ................................................................................................................... 22 Smiths Lake .......................................................................................23 Myall Lakes ........................................................................................24 Bombah Broadwater ...................................................................................................... 25 Myall Lake ......................................................................................................................... 26 Lower Myall Estuary ....................................................................................................... 27 Karuah River ......................................................................................28 Karuah River Estuary ..................................................................................................... 29 The Branch Estuary ........................................................................................................ 30 Management Actions occurring across the Local Government Area ...........................................................31 Management Actions - Manning Catchment .............................34 Management Actions - Khappinghat Estuary ...........................40 Management Actions - Wallis Lake .............................................41 Management Actions - Smiths Lake ...........................................48 Management Actions - Myall Lakes .............................................50 Management Actions - Karuah and The Branch Estuary .......53 Appendix - 2019 Report Card ......................................................55 3 Introduction The MidCoast Council region depends heavily on the health of local waterways and their catchments. The waterways form the basis of the region’s economy (supporting tourism and primary production), contribute to our way of life and provide habitat for extraordinary biological systems. The region’s catchments are under continued pressure from pollution and impacts associated with catchment land use, development and tourism. If unmanaged this has the potential to result in a decline in the health of our waterways. All our local waterways are critically susceptible to environmental pressures; a Hepatitis A event in oysters in Wallis Lake in 1997, reoccurring blue-green algae in Myall Lakes and episodic fish kills are all examples of what can go wrong. This report has been presented to accompany the 2019 Waterway and Catchment Report Card. It provides the technical information on how the Report Card scores were calculated as well as providing more detail on the results. Water quality - ecological health Good management of our lakes, rivers and estuaries requires understanding of how they work, predictions about future conditions and informed choice about actions to get the outcome the community wants. MidCoast Council and Department of Planning, Industry and Environment - Environment Science (DPIE- ES) have worked together to put these principles into action. International best practice suggests that research, modelling, management and monitoring should all use the measures of condition and success. DPIE-ES research allowed the development of a solid understanding of the impacts of catchment activities on lake health. It also concluded this abundance of algae and water clarity would be good indicators for the future. Council used the scientific understanding to form the Water Quality Improvement Plan in 2009, which was designed to achieve a number of specific outcomes, expressed in terms of water clarity and algal abundance. Progress towards these outcomes has been measured using the same measures in the annual report cards. The MidCoast Council community value the health of our waterways and the Waterway and Catchment Report Card is a tool that Council use to monitor how we are tracking. DPIE-ES have undertaken an ecological health monitoring program in Wallis Lake and Khappinghat as part of the state-wide Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Strategy (MER). As part of the strategy, these estuaries were selected as two of seven across the state to be sampled each year to track inter-annual variability in two ecological health indicators; chlorophyll a (the amount of algae) and turbidity (the amount of sediment). Since 2011 the monitoring program has been expanded to cover other key sites across the MidCoast Council area. DPIE-ES have provided an independent scientific evaluation on the ecological health of Wallis Lake, Smiths Lake, Karuah River Estuary, Myall Lakes, Khappinghat Estuary and the Manning River Estuary. Ecological health does not refer to environmental health issues such as drinking water quality, safety for swimming, heavy metal contamination, disease, bacteria, viruses or our ability to harvest shellfish or fish. Figure 1: Community members enjoying the waterway at Wallis Lake. Healthy waterways support our local towns and communities, they keep them thriving. They put food on our tables, support our outdoor lifestyle, local economy and provide homes for wildlife, trees and plants of every sort. With healthy waterways our communities have a healthy vibrant future Introduction Ecological health results presented in easy to understand Report Card The results of ecological health monitoring have been presented in a Catchment and Waterways Report Card (see Appendix) which grades the health of the waterways in a similar way to school Report Cards, with a grade ranging from A (excellent) to F (very poor). The information provided below includes the background details for the Report Card including the objectives, methods and a detailed description of the results. Report Card objectives The objectives for the Report Card are: 1. To report on ecological health. 2. To track progress on management actions. These objectives are specifically achieved by providing information to: • Assist in the current and ongoing protection of “high conservation” areas that provide substantial water quality and biodiversity benefits to the rivers and estuaries. • Guide and report on the remediation of areas that have high pollutant loads and highlight areas that may require further action. • Help protect all waterways against further declines in water quality. Environmental values The environmental values that management actions in the catchment are aiming to achieve are: 1. Minimal algal growth. 2. Minimal sediment inputs and maximum clarity. 3. Intact aquatic habitats like seagrass, macrophyte and riparian vegetation. Figure 2: Clear waters with minimal algal growth and maximum clarity support key habitats such as seagrass 5 Why a Report Card? Methods Report Cards are an effective way to check on the health of our waterways. They help us compare current conditions with the condition we would like them to be. Scientists use indicators to Development of Report ‘health check’ our waterways. Just as your body temperature Card grades is used as an indicator that something may be wrong with The monitoring program has assessed the Ecological your own health, indicators are used to show if something health of Wallis, Smiths and Myall Lakes, Manning and is out of balance or unhealthy in the system. The indicators Karuah River Estuaries